Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producers: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector
Engineers: Phil McDonald, Eddie Klein
The second of two recording sessions for the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band’s single ‘Power To The People’ took place on 22 January 1971. It was held at EMI Studios, and came just hours after the backing track was recorded at Ascot Sound Studios at Lennon’s Tittenhurst Park home.
Lennon realised that the song required chanting and the sound of marching, so hastily arranged the second session that evening. The 8-track tape was copied to free up space, after which the choir was recorded onto tracks 3 and 8. The multitrack tape also had Jim Gordon’s drums on tracks 1 and 2; Klaus Voormann’s bass guitar on 4; Lennon’s piano and lead vocals on 5 and 6; and Bobby Keys’s saxophone on 7.
The members of the choir included Rosetta Hightower, Madeline Bell, Lesley Duncan, Kay Garner, Liza Strike, Sue Glover, and Sunny Leslie.